Bill Gates sides with US government in Apple iPhone clash, FT says

Published 2 years ago on 23 February 2016

Gates becomes the highest-profile industry figure to speak out in favour of the US government’s stance. — Reuters pic

NEW YORK, Feb 23 — Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates has sided with the US government in a dispute over Apple Inc’s refusal to break into a terrorist’s iPhone, breaking ranks with the industry in a face-off with law enforcement, the Financial Times reported.

A court order requiring Apple to help unlock the phone of a terrorist involved in a December attack was a one-time request and “no different” from accessing bank and telephone records, the billionaire told the FT. His opinion appeared to diverge from his own company, part of an industry coalition that backed Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook’s warning that building backdoors into mobile software sets a dangerous precedent.

“This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information,” Gates said in an interview with the newspaper published today. “It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records.”

Apple’s clash with the government has escalated since Cook last week said he would fight the court order, drawing the support of industry peers from Google Inc to Facebook Inc. Cook’s stance ignited a long-simmering battle between the technology industry and the government, pitting concerns over civil liberties against the need for surveillance to fight terrorism.

Gates becomes the highest-profile industry figure to speak out in favour of the US government’s stance. Last week, a judge ordered Apple to lend “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI in recovering information from the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, with his wife in December.

Apple has rejected the order, saying that it would open a “Pandora’s Box” of privacy issues. It faces a February 26 deadline to file its rebuttal to the government’s argument in court, with a hearing scheduled for March 22. — Bloomberg